Expert Rating

Pros

Cons

SLI will not be functional until NVIDIA releases SLI drivers for Vista

Bottom Line

While this machine wasn't fully functional at the time of testing, it's only a matter of time before NVIDIA's SLI drivers will be released. Nevertheless, it's a fantastic top-end machine for any gamer or enthusiast user.

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Built with the gamer in mind, the Stealth V has top-of-the-line components, including a Gigabyte motherboard that's made for overclocking. The machine includes an Intel quad-core CPU, 2GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

The Stealth V is a Vista-based machine, but it isn't fully functional yet due to NVIDIA not having drivers available for SLI graphics configurations. Plus Corporation has installed two factory-overclocked Inno3D GeForce 8800GTX graphics cards, but only one of them will be useable for rendering 3-D graphics until the NVIDIA drivers for SLI are released. In testing, the machine managed to record a competitive 3DMark06 score of 11149. Plus Corporation will inform customers once the drivers for enabling SLI are available.

The two graphics cards do allow for up to four monitors to be connected, but the supplied 22in CHI MEI CMV LCD monitor has a native resolution of 1680x1050, which is adequate for using video editing and graphics applications.

Plus Corporation has been meticulous in its construction of this machine. An Antec Nine Hundred ATX case has been used, which has large fans to keep the PC cool and quiet. The cable management of the Stealth V is a highlight, as Plus Corporation has kept all the major airways clear of clutter. The Seasonic 700W modular power supply helps in this regard. However, we can't help but think that the Nine Hundred will be a dust-trap if used in a small, carpeted room, due to its extensive venting. The design of the case, which has quick-access USB, FireWire and audio ports located at the top, promotes a floor-standing position.

The machine's overall WorldBench 6 score of 105 was expected, as the Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6 has proved to be a little slow at its default speed in our past tests. Encoding 53min worth of WAV files to 192Kbps MP3 files using Cdex took 1min 42sec. By overclocking the machine to 2.93GHz we were able to cut this time by around seven percent to 1min 36sec.

Its two 500GB, 7200rpm Western Digital hard drives are installed in a RAID 0 array in order to supply 931MB of formatted storage space. File copy tests from one location on the drive to another returned a data transfer result of 30.51MBps, which is excellent. The front-mounted fans help to cool the hard drives, which reside in the Antec's removable drive cages.

Expansion possibilities are numerous: the Antec case has room for a total of six hard drives and three optical drives, while the motherboard supports a total of 8GB of RAM, has three PCI slots and three full-size PCI Express slots (two PCIe x16 slots and one PCIe x8 slot). There is abundant connectivity for USB, FireWire and SATA devices and four gigabit LAN ports can be used to boost networking throughput if the machine is to be used as a gaming server.

Plus Corporation also makes it easy to keep all the machine's extraneous bits and bobs intact by providing a neat case for all the cables, manuals and discs.

The screen was particularly good. It is bright and visible from most angles, however heat is an issue, particularly around the Windows button on the front, and on the back where the battery housing is located.

My first impression after unboxing the Q702 is that it is a nice looking unit. Styling is somewhat minimalist but very effective. The tablet part, once detached, has a nice weight, and no buttons or switches are located in awkward or intrusive positions.

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